Billionaire Investors Love These Five Dividend Stocks

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc (NYSE:HOT) was included in the equity portfolios of 13 billionaires at the end of June, which held in aggregate $2.59 billion worth of stock. Moreover, in August, Daniel S. Och’s OZ Management reported an increase in its position to 10.17 million shares. Och previously more than doubled his position to 6.27 million shares between April and June. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc (NYSE:HOT)’s stock has a dividend yield of 2.21%, but its dividend of $0.38 per share was lowered from $1.00 at the beginning of 2015 amid a 17% year-to-date drop in the stock. Among the smart money investors we track, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc (NYSE:HOT) is rather appreciated, as 62 funds reported stakes equal to 28.40% of the company’s float as of the end of June. Billionaire John Paulson’s Paulson & Co. initiated a stake of nearly 12 million shares during the second quarter.

Williams Companies Inc (NYSE:WMB)‘s stock sports the highest dividend yield in our compilation, which amounts to 6.05%, based on the company’s $0.65 quarterly dividend. A total of 13 funds managed or launched by billionaire investors reported stakes in the company in the last round of 13F filings, including Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital, D. E. Shaw, and James Dinan’s York Capital Management, among others. Overall, these funds held $2.69 billion worth of the company’s stock, out of $10.64 billion held overall by 86 funds from our database. Lone Pine Capital was one of the top shareholders of Williams Companies Inc (NYSE:WMB) among the funds we monitor, with a stake of 13.94 million shares, up by 17% on the quarter.

Finally, Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) also made the list after ten billionaires disclosed long positions in the company, with a total value of $5.36 billion. At the end of June, a total of 76 funds from our database held stakes equal to over 29% of the company’s shares, which ranked the stock among hedge funds’ favorite chemical stocks (see the full list). Investors have a better reason to like Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) aside from its 2.32% dividend yield, and that is the involvement of activist investor Bill Ackman of Pershing Square. Under pressure from Ackman, Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) recently decided to spin off its Materials Technologies unit in a tax-free transaction expected to close in September 2016 (read more details). Ackman, who is also a billionaire investor, owns 20.55 million shares of Air Products and Chemicals, which makes him the largest shareholder.

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